Re: I no longer have access to the EA account that my NHL 20 is signed into

Actually, I don't feel EA gets our frustrations as customers.

1. I filled out the form twice with very specific information. I can't think of anything else to add because EA isn't asking for anything else that would be specific for example a security question.

2. If someone was available to talk to for less than 5 minutes, they could ask me questions so that I could answer them and resolve this quickly.

3. Failing all of this, why can't users log into the game and choose to link the PSN to their EA Account of their choice. Why is there no option to log into another account.  Why force the customer to connect to an account nearly 15 years old without a choice.

4. I don't need to use an old outdated account, however, EA holding my online play hostage because they don't have resources to do things properly is unacceptable. The game should say, log in to your EA Account. If you no longer have access or would like to use another account, click here. Why is this so difficult for EA to understand?

Please advise.

EA just doesn't get it... Sad to see what they've become

@ProfessorSebyD 

Even if you could talk to someone on the phone, you'd still have to answer the same questions. If you're giving them the same answers, they wouldn't be able to recover the account.

We don't use security questions anymore because it was highly insecure. The industry as a whole is moving away from this as it was still very easy to gain access to accounts that you didn't own. I imagine you wouldn't want someone contacting us knowing your email address and the answer to a security question that they can easily figure out and then take control of your account. So, the change was made to move away from security questions.

You can certainly log into a different account. You'll need a different PSN ID for that. If you create a new PSN ID, that can be linked to a new EA account. You just can't move an existing PSN ID off an EA account without verifying ownership. Yes, this means you are starting over on a different PSN ID and that's not ideal. I wouldn't want to start over myself so I definitely know how disappointing that would be.

We have the resources to recover the account. The issue is, you're not providing accurate information so it doesn't look like you own the account. We have very strict security policies because account theft is attempted very frequently. We do our best to keep accounts with their actual owners. The questions in that form should be able to be answered by the account owner. Unless you absolutely can't remember the information you used or you may have used bogus information to begin with. That's not really our fault. We have to go on what you provided. If you don't recall it, it doesn't look like you own the account.

We're not trying to hold you hostage. We want you to be able to play. That's the whole point of being a game company. To make games that people enjoy playing. However, in today's day and age, requiring an account linked to all our games that you play lets us help you guys out better. Especially when it comes to things like missing content or errors with your content. It also provides another layer of security in world that is very heavily online.

My brother is having the same issue. He can not recover his account because he no longer has access to the email on file. Should be fairly easy to simply create a new EA account, link it to your gamer tag and log in. I understand security but the problem here actually lies in the software. 
This process is extremely flawed and EA should provide compensation for this inconvenience. I spent $60 on this game, purchased as a gift for my brother and he still has not been able to play it with me. It has been over a month. How would you feel if you purchased a car but then in order to fill it up with gas you must first verify ownership of an old email address that you created when you were 6 years old. So you try over and over again to recover the email address never finding resolution, get no actual support or resolution from the company you purchased the car from, and a month later your car is still stuck at the gas station never once being driven since you purchased it.

Absolutely unacceptable and if I do not receive resolution shortly I will without a doubt never purchase another EA game again out of principle.

@Nagerade 

Your stolen car analogy is an interesting one. When you buy a car, the owner needs to show proof they own it. When they only have a set of keys and no registration, how are you to know they actually own that car? They say they own it, but you're potentially buying a stolen car. Wouldn't you rather get verification you're not buying a stolen vehicle? If it were as simple as you'd like it to be, anyone who had a set of keys to a car should be able to sell it to someone else without worrying about who actually owns it. Obviously, that's not ok. Just because your brother says they own the account, it doesn't mean we should believe them, remove the link to their gamertag, which basically deletes all progress on all EA games, including Ultimate Team, and hand the account over to them. What if your brother wanted to play a prank on you and get all your hard work, as well as money you spent, wiped out? We've heard of this happening in the past so it's more likely than you think.

Again, I absolutely understand the frustration, but also try to see it from our side. We're trying to keep accounts with their original owners. When you don't know the details of your account, it doesn't look like you own it.

To address your new analogy, if the person selling the car was able to provide the title, they would legally be allowed to sell it to me and would not have to provide proof that they still had access to an old email address they used during the process of acquiring the title to the car.

Why would his specific gamertag automatically have this email address linked to it if he never owned the account? I understand your point that a user could lose all his EA progress if you were to remove the account and you have to be cautious of that but there still has to be a solution here at some point. If each gamertag only is allowed to be linked to one EA account then maybe the user can show proof that they own the gamertag itself, perhaps via showing proof they own their Microsoft Account. 

Again, I understand where EA is coming from trying to protect users from losing their data, but at the same time they need to create a simpler process here that allows legitimate EA users to recover their accounts and continue playing. Otherwise EA will just continue to decline at an even faster rate than it already has been.

Rather than trying to come up with a witty way to address my analogy, why don’t you do your job and help your customer.

@Nagerade 

If they never actually played any of our games before and this is happening with the very first EA game they've played online, it's possible someone used their email to link their gamertag. That would mean they would have needed access to their email to make that happen. If they have played our games before, they would have linked their gamertag when this requirement comes up in game before you actually play.

I can't help you with this because it's not something we can do over Answers HQ. The only way to get the account back is go through the account recovery process. This is our way of keeping accounts with the legitimate owners. If the process was as simple as you'd like it to be, account theft would be very easy to accomplish.

At this point, there's really nothing I can do to help as it goes beyond the scope of what we can assist with on Answers HQ. That account recovery form needs to be filled out with accurate information in order to turn the account over to you.

He is the legitimate owner of the account and he tried going through the account recovery process. How do you recover an email that you don’t have access to. He first created the original email for his EA account years ago when he was a child. He doesn’t use that email address anymore and doesn’t have it linked to any of the email addresses he does use as an adult. 
so your saying there is just nothing he can do at this point?

This is not his first time playing an EA game but it is the first time an EA game has required he log in.

@Nagerade 

He could contact the provider of the email account to see if they can get them access to it. If they can, they don't need to go through account recovery. Otherwise, they'll need to answer the questions in the webform with accurate information so the account can be recovered.

I was playing NHL 20 on xbox last night and during a game I was kicked out.  Now I cant get into any online type games.   The error message says "this Ea account is invalid".  How can this be?  Ive been playing nhl for 11 years.  

Hello, @matthewbiz631.

The invalid account issue normally means you need to change your password. That can be done at www.origin.com. However, you can also get this message if you try logging in too many times. You'll be locked out for about 90 minutes. Another reason this can happen is if you use the wrong email address when signing in. If none of these are the issue, contact @EAHelp through Twitter or open a case with a live support advisor here: https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/new/. They can look further into this. Thank you!

Did you solve this ?

My relative is also having the same issue, PSN is linked to an old EA account that he has no access to and now he cant play any EA games on his playstation. 

Hello, @Adooo90.

If they no longer have access to the email on their account, they'll need to go through the account recovery process. That starts by filling out the forum here. Thanks!

I need help accessing my ea account. Whenever I try playing nhl 20 on ps4 all of a sudden it won’t let me access any features and says this account is in eligible and it has been like this for weeks. Please help

Hello, @rahooligan02.

Do you have access to the email on your EA account? Also, make sure you're signing in with the right email. It's possible your EA account is on a different email than your Xbox gamertag/PSN ID.

I’m having the same issue. Bought the Fifa 20 game and can’t play online because I don’t have access to the email address I created the account with like 10 years ago. 
Think the system should let us choose what account we would want to log on to. That does not mean we are stealing or hacking someone’s account. So what does it matter. 
“your stolen car analogy “ wow. How can you say that. We paid money for that game. You should do anything and everything to help us. 

@ACEOFSPADE_7nli 

We are doing all we can, but we can't just give access to accounts without verifying you own it. If you no longer have access to the email on the account, you'll need to go through the account recovery process by filling out the webform here.

I still need help man. Been like 2 months and still nothing. My ea account is locked and I am unable to access it therefore I cannot verify it...I’ve been asking for help but clearly nobody is helping out

Hello, @CareerAunt6661.

Did you try going through the account recovery process? If not, that can be started by filling out the webform here.

@CareerAunt6661 

Your account has not had any action taken on it by Terms of Service. You can still contact support. You can always try creating another account or use Twitter/Facebook. You can contact @EAHelp through Twitter or post to our Facebook account at facebook.com/eahelphub for assistance.

@rahooligan02 

We're not able to help with locked accounts. Please see my previous post for instructions on contacting our help through Twitter and Facebook. There isn't much they can do if you can't verify you own the account though. You should still be able to fill out the webform with the account you're posting with.